US Politics Thread

[calitennis127]

Trump is a fraud. He is not as rich as he claims to be.

How do you know Federberg? Because the New York Times did a hit piece on him after he won the election? Is that all there is to say on the matter? I assure you that if Trump was pro-open borders and was still sending donations to the Democratic Party like he used to, everyone at NBC would still be friends with him and they would be touting him as a marketing genius.

When you say he is a business fraud, you are only saying that because he is not in the political party you favor. If you go back just 10-15 years, all of the NBC Democrats gushed over Trump and talked about how great a businessman he was.

If you want my personal opinion on Trump's business record, I consider it mixed. Democrats are now taking the position that it is all negative, but just a little bit of research raises serious doubts about that.

I will offer this as one example. The neoconservative Weekly Standard publication vehemently opposed Trump's candidacy, but they did publish this complimentary piece about Trump's business success in 2015. Trump's company apparently had even higher margins than Apple. The article is now on the website of the Washington Examiner since the Weekly Standard is defunct:

"And it’s simply not the case that Trump is “fair-to-middling” at running his business. In fact, Trump’s business is insanely profitable. According to that Businessweek story, the Trump Organization brought in about $605 million in revenue last year, and managed to clear somewhere between $275 and $325 million in profit. That’s a phenomenally high profit margin (which, of course, is a key sign of the health of a business). Trump’s approximately 50 percent margin means his company is more profitable than Pfizer, Gazprom, and Hyundai – all the most profitable companies in their respective industries. Trump’s company even has higher margins than Apple. Who knew? It turns out Steve Jobs was only “fair-to-middling” at running a business."

Trump’s Business Success Is More Than Marginal

With their attacks on his ideology, misogyny, and hair failing to wound him, Donald Trump’s opponents have decided to really cut to the quick: They’re now attacking the boastful billionaire’s business record. For a man whose sense of self-worth is clearly wrapped up in his net-worth (he has…

www.washingtonexaminer.com

 

[Federberg]

How do you know Federberg? Because the New York Times did a hit piece on him after he won the election? Is that all there is to say on the matter? I assure you that if Trump was pro-open borders and was still sending donations to the Democratic Party like he used to, everyone at NBC would still be friends with him and they would be touting him as a marketing genius.

When you say he is a business fraud, you are only saying that because he is not in the political party you favor. If you go back just 10-15 years, all of the NBC Democrats gushed over Trump and talked about how great a businessman he was.

If you want my personal opinion on Trump's business record, I consider it mixed. Democrats are now taking the position that it is all negative, but just a little bit of research raises serious doubts about that.

I will offer this as one example. The neoconservative Weekly Standard publication vehemently opposed Trump's candidacy, but they did publish this complimentary piece about Trump's business success in 2015. Trump's company apparently had even higher margins than Apple. The article is now on the website of the Washington Examiner since the Weekly Standard is defunct:

"And it’s simply not the case that Trump is “fair-to-middling” at running his business. In fact, Trump’s business is insanely profitable. According to that Businessweek story, the Trump Organization brought in about $605 million in revenue last year, and managed to clear somewhere between $275 and $325 million in profit. That’s a phenomenally high profit margin (which, of course, is a key sign of the health of a business). Trump’s approximately 50 percent margin means his company is more profitable than Pfizer, Gazprom, and Hyundai – all the most profitable companies in their respective industries. Trump’s company even has higher margins than Apple. Who knew? It turns out Steve Jobs was only “fair-to-middling” at running a business."

Trump’s Business Success Is More Than Marginal

With their attacks on his ideology, misogyny, and hair failing to wound him, Donald Trump’s opponents have decided to really cut to the quick: They’re now attacking the boastful billionaire’s business record. For a man whose sense of self-worth is clearly wrapped up in his net-worth (he has…

www.washingtonexaminer.com

Admins can you pin this post? It has to rate as one of the dumbest and most hilarious pieces of nonsense that Cali has ever written. And we all know that's a really high (or should I saw low?) bar...

 

[calitennis127]

What you fail to recognize is the difference between "mistakes" and making it all about yourself. Sure Cuomo has made mistakes, but where did he make it about himself?

By blaming NY nursing homes for mishandling coronavirus patients that he ordered them to take with his March 25th order and by threatening to investigate them afterward. That is clearly a case of making it personal and shifting blame.

Put the shoe on the other foot: let's say Trump issued an order forcing nursing homes to take COVID patients and then after hundreds of people at those homes died, he then blamed the nursing homes and threatened to investigate them. You would then accuse him of being vindictive and narcissistic. No doubt about it.

Look at this key part of the New York Post column one more time:

In the industry, his threats are viewed as a warning against criticism, with one owner certain it means “Cuomo is coming after us.”

Said another executive: “Our nurses are putting themselves at risk, then they go home and hear the governor’s criticism. So instead of cheers, we get crap. Now he’s tormenting us, just to protect a policy that was wrong-headed.”

If those quotes were about Trump you would be eating them up and referring to them non-stop, saying that Trump was scaring heroic nursing home owners, making it personal with them, not valuing the sacrifices their workers are making, shifting blame, and being downright cruel.

So please, stop with these patent and ridiculous double standards. It's no different than the Tara Reade situation, where she has now 6 corroborating witnesses while Christine Blasey Ford had ZERO.

 

[calitennis127]

Admins can you pin this post? It has to rate as one of the dumbest and most hilarious pieces of nonsense that Cali has ever written. And we all know that's a really high (or should I saw low?) bar...

Says the person who put up countless inaccurate and stupid posts about Russian collusion and Michael Flynn. Yet you somehow maintain full confidence in your own judgment.

But of course you have no substance to offer.....you just can't bear the thought of anyone disagreeing with your prejudiced views against Trump. You saw some contrary evidence to your belief that Trump is a business fraud and it made you scream inside in disgust.

 

[Federberg]

Says the person who posted countless inaccurate and stupid posts about Russian collusion and Michael Flynn. Yet you somehow maintain full confidence in your own judgment.

But of course you have no substance to offer.....you just can't bear the thought of anyone disagreeing with your prejudiced views against Trump. You saw some contrary evidence to your belief that Trump is a business fraud and it made you scream inside in disgust.

 

[calitennis127]

Go find another article on "Russian collusion" from CNN. They really hit it out of the park with that one. So did you, Tinfoil Federturd.

 

[calitennis127]

I have a personal distaste for Trump where climate change and multi-lateral organisations like NATO are concerned. These are my judgements and based on my own self interest.

If you are worried about environmental pollution, you should be far more concerned with China, India, and certain other Asian countries such as Indonesia and Thailand which have been shown by study after study to be the worst polluters in the world (air and water). The utterly pointless and worthless Paris Climate Accords do nothing to address that very real problem. You should be more concerned with the way those countries damage the environment than with plastic straws in the USA or what Trump says to a crowd of reporters in Washington DC.

Also, NATO is an obsolete, wasteful warmongering institution. Ironically, Trump has strengthened it after initially condemning it. Yet even though his policy is more in line with your views than mine, you still cannot give him any credit for that. Why? Because like Moxie, Tented, AntiPusher, and Broken, you are an anti-Trump bigot.

 

[Federberg]

If you are worried about environmental pollution, you should be far more concerned with China, India, and certain other Asian countries such as Indonesia and Thailand which have been shown by study after study to be the worst polluters in the world (air and water). The utterly pointless and worthless Paris Climate Accords do nothing to address that very real problem. You should be more concerned with the way those countries damage the environment than with plastic straws in the USA or what Trump says to a crowd of reporters in Washington DC.

Also, NATO is an obsolete, wasteful warmongering institution. Ironically, Trump has strengthened it after initially condemning it. Yet even though his policy is more in line with your views than mine, you still cannot give him any credit for that. Why? Because like Moxie, Tented, AntiPusher, and Broken, you are an anti-Trump bigot.

do you even know what the word bigot means?

 

[calitennis127]

do you even know what the word bigot means?

Better than you evidently. The word suits you perfectly. "Bigotry" doesn't just apply to the conventional (and stupid) definition of disagreeing with inane left-wing clichés. You have zero tolerance in your mind for any defense of Trump or his policies whatsoever. And in that sense you are highly bigoted.

 

[Moxie]

Better than you evidently. The word suits you perfectly. "Bigotry" doesn't just apply to the conventional (and stupid) definition of disagreeing with inane left-wing clichés. You have zero tolerance in your mind for any defense of Trump or his policies whatsoever. And in that sense you are highly bigoted.

I'm pretty sure the "conventional" definition is not "disagreeing with left-wing clichés." The conventional definition is being intolerant of minority groups. Yes, the definition includes "being intolerant of those holding different opinions," which is not the same as disliking Trump, for reasons that are completely specific to him. Personally I couldn't stand Trump back when he was a Democrat, either.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Getting reliable numbers from the US is never going to be possible.

 

[Moxie]

Getting reliable numbers from the US is never going to be possible.

I'd like to know what you're worried about, since we (in the US) have such woeful testing. The chances that someone dies of COVID-19 and it's NOT recorded as such, because they weren't tested are MUCH greater than that they died because they were dying anyway, got COVID, and became part of an "over-count." I've said this 3 or 4 times already, but @britbox and I have been talking about how the actual count, by country and across the world is going to take a long time to sort out. The differences in testing capabilities will be a huge issue, by country. People will have been cremated and we'll never know. Pandemic disease experts will make an over/under calculation, based on normal death rates, various ages, preexisting conditions, etc., down the road. But what are you highlighting, exactly, in pointing out that some of these people would have died, anyway? Clearly you're a bit outraged by this video. I mentioned on the "people you know" thread that my friend lost her mother in England to COVID, which she contracted in hospital. She was 97, and in failing health. But she actually did get COVID and died from it. Where would you put her on your count?

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Fact check: Hospitals get paid more if patients listed as COVID-19, on ventilators

Hospitals are paid more for Medicare patients with COVID-19, but a senator who first said that says he doesn't think the system is being gamed.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I'd like to know what you're worried about, since we (in the US) have such woeful testing. The chances that someone dies of COVID-19 and it's NOT recorded as such, because they weren't tested are MUCH greater than that they died because they were dying anyway, got COVID, and became part of an "over-count." I've said this 3 or 4 times already, but @britbox and I have been talking about how the actual count, by country and across the world is going to take a long time to sort out. The differences in testing capabilities will be a huge issue, by country. People will have been cremated and we'll never know. Pandemic disease experts will make an over/under calculation, based on normal death rates, various ages, preexisting conditions, etc., down the road. But what are you highlighting, exactly, in pointing out that some of these people would have died, anyway? Clearly you're a bit outraged by this video. I mentioned on the "people you know" thread that my friend lost her mother in England to COVID, which she contracted in hospital. She was 97, and in failing health. But she actually did get COVID and died from it. Where would you put her on your count?

Not outraged, just very surprised. I thought this thing would be taken a bit more seriously at the hospital level. You watched the video , correct? The person says even if someone is on his last legs with something else, if at the time of that he had covid, it is covid . That is not a good way of anylising this virus and its effects in the short or long term. But if you read my other post above, you will know why. MOney is everything.
Your friends mom. Her health was failing you said. The question is, how serious was it and if her health was in great shape, was she going to die of Covid? I cannot answer those questions but if she was already given a certain time to live because of say her heart, I would not classify her death as covid because she was dying with or without the virus. But that is just an opinion. What I am totally shocked by is the video...that no matter what, you die with covid in you, THAT is the cause of death. Blanket. That is not right.

 

[Moxie]

Not outraged, just very surprised. I thought this thing would be taken a bit more seriously at the hospital level. You watched the video , correct? The person says even if someone is on his last legs with something else, if at the time of that he had covid, it is covid . That is not a good way of anylising this virus and its effects in the short or long term. But if you read my other post above, you will know why. MOney is everything.
Your friends mom. Her health was failing you said. The question is, how serious was it and if her health was in great shape, was she going to die of Covid? I cannot answer those questions but if she was already given a certain time to live because of say her heart, I would not classify her death as covid because she was dying with or without the virus. But that is just an opinion. What I am totally shocked by is the video...that no matter what, you die with covid in you, THAT is the cause of death. Blanket. That is not right.

I did watch the video and I agree that it makes some of the choices as to listing cause of death seem shocking, but I also think it's important to say that they did have COVID, for later statistics. To make it about Money for the sake of funding is really a bit cynical.

My friend's mother had no fatal diagnosis. She was old, and at 97 you're not what you were. But she still lived independently and was generally well. She had a short spell of weird dizziness and so went into hospital, just before it became clear that could have been a bad idea. To my mind, she absolutely died of COVID.

 

[calitennis127]

I'm pretty sure the "conventional" definition is not "disagreeing with left-wing clichés." The conventional definition is being intolerant of minority groups.

With intolerance defined in terms of left-wing clichés, exactly right. The "intolerance" you speak of is simply what you and other leftists (particularly white leftists) consider "intolerant." But you don't have a monopoly on defining what "intolerance" means in specific political contexts.

Yes, the definition includes "being intolerant of those holding different opinions," which is not the same as disliking Trump, for reasons that are completely specific to him.

No, I think most of the invective directed at Trump has to do with the fact that he is a Republican and that he took certain unforgivable positions on immigration during his campaign. Those two facts make him intolerable by definition to intolerant leftists like yourself. His contentious personality just amplifies and intensifies a deeper hatred you have for him for the (rather mild) immigration positions he has taken and the party he has affiliated with. All Trump did in his 2015 campaign on immigration is take the 1995 Bill Clinton position and the 2005 Barack Obama position. Apparently Clinton and Obama were Nazis at those times.

Personally I couldn't stand Trump back when he was a Democrat, either.

I doubt your dislike for him was as acute as it is now, although his combative temperament certainly is not your style. Trump is too much of a rapper in terms of how he picks fights and attacks enemies for you to like him.

 

[calitennis127]

I'd like to know what you're worried about, since we (in the US) have such woeful testing.

That is total nonsense. This is one of the dumbest talking points of the Democrats, i.e. that we need more and more "testing." All that will do is confirm what we already know from multiple studies, starting with the Stanford study in mid-March that I cited: that there are far more asymptomatic carriers than have been officially documented, which will cause the official number of cases to skyrocket. What this will do in turn is provide Democrats even more excuses to extend shutdowns and destroy the economy before the election.

There is no need for testing everyone and anyone under the sun. There is a need to test those who show symptoms and are actually sick. Beyond that, this idiotic campaign for "MORE TESTING!!!!!" is unnecessary and simply an excuse to make a big deal out of what we already know, namely that there are millions of asymptomatic carriers. All that Democrats plan to do is take those numbers and use them to promote even more fear and irrational hysteria.

The chances that someone dies of COVID-19 and it's NOT recorded as such, because they weren't tested are MUCH greater than that they died because they were dying anyway, got COVID, and became part of an "over-count."

No, the total opposite is true. The hospitals and government - including the CDC - are scrambling to put as many deaths as possible under the COVID count. And that is because they have precisely the same goal as you: to drive up the death total as high as possible. Your motivations are political (you want to make Trump look bad), while their motivations are a mix of business interest, desire to maintain their reputations, and in some quarters certainly to make Trump look bad.

Fauci and Birx would look utterly ridiculous if the true death count from COVID was being listed. Everyone would see the shutdowns as unnecessary and ridiculous. Fauci and Birx know this, so to justify their policy they have ensured that the death count looks at least close to as bad as what they predicted. And they know there are enough suckers (such as you Moxie) to buy into this nonsense, so they don't have to worry about much in the way of skepticism.

Yet again, let me point to these clear instructions from the CDC on how to falsify death certificates:

"In cases where a definite diagnosis of COVID–19 cannot be made, but it is suspected or likely (e.g., the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID–19 on a death certificate as "probable" or "presumed." In these instances, certifiers should use their best clinical judgement in determining if a COVID–19 infection was likely."

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf

 

[calitennis127]

Not outraged, just very surprised. I thought this thing would be taken a bit more seriously at the hospital level. You watched the video , correct? The person says even if someone is on his last legs with something else, if at the time of that he had covid, it is covid . That is not a good way of anylising this virus and its effects in the short or long term. But if you read my other post above, you will know why. MOney is everything.
Your friends mom. Her health was failing you said. The question is, how serious was it and if her health was in great shape, was she going to die of Covid? I cannot answer those questions but if she was already given a certain time to live because of say her heart, I would not classify her death as covid because she was dying with or without the virus. But that is just an opinion. What I am totally shocked by is the video...that no matter what, you die with covid in you, THAT is the cause of death. Blanket. That is not right.

Exactly right murat. This is being done to maintain the reputations of the doctors who predicted doomsday scenarios and to increase funding for hospitals that are being hit hard by the lack of patients. And, of course, Democrats such as Moxie are cheering for the death count to go as high as possible so they can use it against Trump. Moxie has her pom-poms out and is cheering for the COVID death totals like it is Homecoming weekend and she is a senior who will be doing it for the last time.

Allow me to quote these CDC directions on how to falsify death certificates one more time.....it really can't be done enough because of how blatant an invitation to fraud it actually is:

"In cases where a definite diagnosis of COVID–19 cannot be made, but it is suspected or likely (e.g., the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID–19 on a death certificate as "probable" or "presumed." In these instances, certifiers should use their best clinical judgement in determining if a COVID–19 infection was likely."

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf

 

[Federberg]

hey BB, these fatality numbers in the US seem to keep going up by 1,000+ per day. What are your thoughts if we get past 100,000. You still rate Trump's electoral chances highly?

I thought this ad was devastating by the way... an evil twist on Reagan's campaign ad...

 

[the AntiPusher]

You can bet the bank some rich Republicans are behind this, in a desperate attempt to save Trump’s failing presidency.

Rich Republicans n his supporters like our Cali